Chester Phillips
Chester Phillips was a Colonel of the U.S. Army, the first and only director of the Strategic Scientific Reserve, Steve Rogers' commanding officer, and one of the founders of S.H.I.E.L.D. Biography World War II Training Rogers to be Captain America ]] Colonel Chester Phillips was the officer in command of the secret project in the Strategic Scientific Reserve aimed to create a series of super soldiers for the US Army. He was the chief of the training camp in which the candidates were trained. The scientist in charge of the project, Abraham Erskine, presented him with a potential candidate, Steve Rogers, but Rogers' frail physique and numerous health problems led Phillips to believe that Rogers was unsuitable, at one point suggesting Gilmore Hodge, a physically superior soldier but also a disagreeable showboat. To prove his own theory correct, Phillips threw a fake grenade at the soldiers, but Rogers was the one who attempted to shield the blast with his own body while the other soldiers, including Hodge, took cover. Phillips reluctantly acquiesced. Rogers was transformed successfully by Erskine's serum, but Erskine was killed by a HYDRA agent named Heinz Kruger. Phillips decided to leave the untrained Rogers behind and to continue the war without him, disappointed that only one super soldier was created. When a huge platoon of 400 men went missing, among them Rogers' best friend Bucky Barnes, Phillips, though regretful for his soldiers' fate, refused to allow Rogers to attempt a rescue mission, planning to bomb the facility instead. Rogers defied Phillips' order and was successful in rescuing the men alone. Phillips allowed him to work in the field, and entrusted him with a special elite commando force, rather than punishing him.Captain America: The First Avenger ]] Battle in the Valkyrie After Arnim Zola was captured, Phillips successfully interrogated him and located Johann Schmidt's last secret HYDRA base. While Captain America distracted the enemy, Phillips himself led the assault on the base, defeating a large number of HYDRA agents. Eventually, he helped Rogers in reaching the Red Skull's experimental plane riding Schmidt's special car, ending on the edge of a ravine and seeing the plane flying away with Rogers and the Skull aboard. His last words to Rogers were "I'm not kissing you" after Rogers kissed Peggy Carter goodbye. "death"]] Later on, when Rogers relayed the news to Carter over the radio from Schmidt's plane that he was going to sacrifice himself to destroy Schmidt's weapons of mass destruction by crashing the plane into the Arctic, Phillips listened to Rogers' final conversation. When the radio went blank, Phillips, visibly saddened at his friend and comrade's apparent demise, walked away, and later handed Rogers' file to Peggy Carter. After the War In 1946, Phillips and Howard Stark chose Peggy Carter to run S.H.I.E.L.D. after her successful completion of the Zodiac assignment.Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter Character Traits Chester Phillips was an old fashioned soldier, a gruff and iron-forged man who firmly believed in classical war values. He's contrary to Abraham Erskine's choice for his Super Soldier Serum test subject, since he was used to training "real" combatants, and didn't see the value of a small and skinny man such as Rogers. Phillips was a good strategist and a trained soldier, and, despite his rank, he still took part in on-field missions, using canonical firearms. Relationships Allies *Franklin D. Roosevelt - Commander-in-Chief *Strategic Scientific Reserve **Abraham Erskine † - Subordinate **Howling Commandos - Subordinates ***Steve Rogers ***Bucky Barnes ***Peggy Carter ***Gabe Jones ***Jim Morita † ***James Montgomery Falsworth † ***Jacques Dernier *S.H.I.E.L.D. **Howard Stark **Peggy Carter Enemies *HYDRA **Johann Schmidt/Red Skull **Arnim Zola † **Heinz Kruger † Trivia *In the comics, Phillps chose Steve Rogers personally for being the Super Soldier test subject, while General Saunders was contrary. In the movie, Phillips fills Saunders role as he opposes the choice until being convinced otherwise. References External Links * Category:Captain America: The First Avenger Characters Category:Comics Characters Category:Humans Category:Males Category:Brown Hair Category:Grey Hair Category:Brown Eyes Category:United States Armed Forces Officers Category:Strategic Scientific Reserve Leaders Category:S.H.I.E.L.D. Leaders Category:Heroes Category:Deceased Characters